September 29th, 2026 (Continued):
<It is great to see, but it is also super sad that he praised the French Revolution motto of Liberty, equality, and Fraternity. This is his direct quote “liberty, equality and fraternity are not simply words emblazoned on the front of your public buildings; they refer to universal ethical imperatives that also find in the Gospel message an inexhaustible source of inspiration and fulfillment." The French Revolution was led by Freemasons and was a Catholic genocide. The motto of the French Revolution has been condemned by Popes in the past. You must ask is it a true revival to tradition and the Catholic Church, or is it people following corrupt ideas and theology. I am not saying everything he said in France was bad, but this is really disheartening to see. We must pray for Pope Leo to uphold the Catholic faith and not make it softer to try to “connect” with other religions or ideologies. - Guy 1
<The Pope needs not be a worker of miracles or preternatural phenomena - just be a Holy Father to the Church. That means teaching Catholic doctrine, condemning error and heresy, ministering to the Faithful, leading them to Heaven, being an example of virtue, and cleansing corruption in the ecclesiarchy, not becoming a popular celebrity who people love to listen to. Matthew 7:21-23 - Zhao
<Sounds like a great quote from Pope Leo XIV. The pope has a title, “pontifex” meaning bridge builder. He is building a bridge between where people are at to the fulfillment of all good things in Christ. Liberty, equality and fraternity. These things they seek are in fact good things. Good things can become idols if placed before God. That is what happened in the French Revolution and many other revolutions that have tried to destroy the church. These values when imposed apart from Christ will never be able to be fulfilled as He is the source of all good. Guy 1 you missed out on our discussions but this was a central theme of the first two. Can we take good things and build off of them that are found in other religions or philosophies? The church for her whole history has done so. If you would like to discuss this more I would love to talk as this is central to our evangelizing mission. If the good that people seek cannot be used to point them to Christ, most people will not convert. - Cliffe
<If we as Catholics condemn the good things of other religions and philosophies instead of building bridges, not only will it be difficult for people to convert, but they will start to see the church as an institution that is actively working against the good. We are for the good, but a rightly ordered good. Let’s not tear down like the evangelicals but build up in Christ. - Cliffe
<Blessed be missionary evangelists! - Clyde
<I found that tearing other people's religions down is extremely ineffective as it causes hostility and is a very ineffective way to evangelize to people to convert to our faith we can't talk to non Catholics and fallen away Catholics like we do with fellow practicing Catholics and even with our own we can't be yelling and acting like a complete jerk we must be kind, respectful, and gentle with others never aggressive when trying to evangelize yo others - Gerrardo
<That is clearly not the implication, and the mental gymnastics necessary to reach anything resembling Catholic doctrine is far too much to resemble logic. Equality is antithetical to both the Faith and nature itself (God above men, Saints and Angels above Man on earth, clerics above laity, kings over subjects, parents over children). Fraternity - the idea that we are all brethren as mankind - is false, as we are baptized as sons and daughters of God, not remaining dead in original sin as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. - Zhao
<Perhaps liberty could be understood in the traditional sense *if explicitly defined that way* - otherwise in this era, and especially when associated with the other two words of the Treason against Christendom, the definition used is that of liberalism - freedom to sin, as long as it doesn’t “violate the dignity of man” (or even when it does). - Zhao
<Freemasonry was founded with the explicit intent of opposing the Catholic Church, which they continue to do to this day by destroying Her from within. To defend it or compromise with it is not charity, but treason and blasphemy. - Zhao
<Freemasons are automatically excommunicated from the Catholic Church. I don’t think there is much common ground with them. - Guy 1
<This is a bad argument. - Guy 9
<How so? - Guy 1
<Even though yes we are banned from joining freemasons they do charity work and that's something we can find common ground on - Gerrardo
<One can use equivocation in order to bring someone to the truth. St. Athanasius says that one can use their misunderstanding in order to pull out a more true meaning to their words. St. Basil the Great makes reference to that in his book the Use of Pagan Literature by Young Men. The pagan gods are said to do all kinds of evil and debauched things in the dramas of the playwrights (including the gross things in Homer), but there is still virtue presented in Homer and others. A Christian must not be naive in their use, but they can still use those things to pull out and inspire virtue. Pope Leo is clearly not talking about the original French Revolution (that has been overturned and France is currently in its Fifth Republic). The French that I know do not mean the same thing by those words as the revolutionaries in 1789. The pope is clearly not speaking univocally. - Jeremiah
<I don’t believe these things are a stretch if we are clear in the way we are talking about equality and fraternity. We average faithful, priests, and saints are all equal in dignity, yet vary by office and spiritual glory. It is not a stretch to say “equality” with regards to dignity. Fraternity too is elevated in sacramental fraternity, unique to the members of the Church, but all mankind is joined by creatorial fraternity. See the excerpt from the catechism below - Guy 10
<And* to* - Gerrardo
<Not to change topics, but is anyone absolutely nauseous after the Trump/AI Leaders presser outside the WH this evening? - Guy 11
<I talked with a French person recently and they thought it was a good thing. Their minds aren’t changed. Those words mean the same thing and people know it. Again if you have to do mental gymnastics to try to prove that something isn’t a scandal, that is not good for the Catholic faith. The Catholic faith is the truth. The French motto of liberty and equality the way it was meant to be during the French revolution is clearly seen in our culture today abundantly. - Guy 1
I got to my bus stop and waited to get on and then took it home. I started day 9 of my 40 day rosary for life at 10:50pm and completed it at 11:14pm, I did a 6th decade and each prayer was accompanied with something I thought needed prayer.
Song of the Day: The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen (1984)